The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCC) has decided to issue a legal sanction of ‘Caution’ to KBS N Sports, which caused controversy with the caster‘s ‘If you’re a woman’ remark.

The KCC announced the decision at a general meeting held at the Mokdong Broadcast Center in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul on the 11th.

Earlier, during the KBS N Sports ‘2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League’ broadcast on August 1, when a sketchbook in the audience with the cheering message ‘If you‘re a woman, it’s Choi Jae-hoon’ was caught on screen, the caster commented “I want to eat woman ramen. Isn‘t it the most delicious ramen?“ which caused controversy. The commentator also did not stop it and reacted with laughter.

However, the production team felt that something was wrong on site and took action in the next inning, and an apology was made before the end of the game.


A KBS N Sports official who attended the statement of opinion that day said, “It was a mistake that should not have happened, and I am sorry. He explained, “It was a shocking situation even at the scene at the time,” and “The caster in question was given a disciplinary action of three months’ suspension and is currently waiting after the disciplinary action is over.”

Regarding this, Commissioner Kim Jeong-soo criticized, “It was an unspeakable sexually harassing remark toward a woman,” and Commissioner Kang Kyung-pil pointed out, “The repercussions of the content are serious.”

Chairwoman Ryu Hee-rim also said, “The usual education on sexual sensitivity was not proper, so the vulgar expression came out,” and “However, we considered the part where we immediately apologized and disciplined the person in question,” and decided on a “caution.”

The Broadcasting and Communications Commission’s decision is divided into the following stages: “No problem,” “Submission of opinion” and “Recommendation” which are administrative guidance stages, and “Caution”, “Warning” which are legal sanctions, and “Program correction, modification, suspension, and It is divided into ‘disciplinary action against the person concerned’, ‘fines’, etc. Legal sanctions are grounds for deducting points when re-licensing or re-approving a broadcasting station.

Hong Se-young, Donga.com reporter, projecthong@donga.com